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t^nWniel McK^J' 



Washington, D. C, 

January y 1901. 
To my good and true friends : 

I have compiled a few letters, which were on file in my office, 
from various friends and gentlemen with whom I have had 
the pleasure of doing business for forty or fifty years, which 
will speak for themselves. I would not have printed them 
were it not for the personal attacks upon me and my integrity 
by a merciless vampire in this city whom I have befriended, 
and now he is circulating false and malicious statements about 
me and the Dewey Hotel, just because I did not respond to 
his blackmailing letters. These letters are not for the pur- 
pose of ingratiating myself in the good graces of any one ; they 
are merely printed for the purpose of enlightening, and to 
show that I still live, and am just the same to-day as when 
these letters were written, and shall remain so until I am called 
hence. 

My father and mother were the parents of eighteen children, 
I being the seventeenth, and not one of them has ever done a 
dishonorable act. My forefathers fought with Oliver Crom- 
well, my grandfather and grandmother were born in Edin- 
burgh and Dumfrees, Scotland. My father and mother and 
their children were born in Nova Scotia. The Scotch spell the 
name of McKay, " Mackay." 

I was brought up in Boston, Mass., the place above all I 
honor. I served my time with my brother, Donald McKay, 
the man that built the fastest ships that ever sailed the ocean, 
and I am proud of being an humble ship carpenter. I worked 
many a day from sunrise to sunset for $1.00 per day. 



3 

Were it not for the war I would never have been in Wash- 
ington, but our commerce was destroyed by the Confederate 
cruisers and our shipbuilding interest went into decay and 
has remained so ever since. Our old shipbuilders, with myself, 
constructed 83 per cent, of the Navy for the rebellion. The 
Government owed their heirs large sums of money for the 
changes in their construction, and, as I was the youngest of 
the builders, many of their heirs have appointed me their 
attorney, and I am and have been giving their business strict 
attention, and never in my life have I received any money or 
fee from any man, woman, child or corporation for any services, 
except on the claims for these old ships. 

I have compiled these letters on account of the attacks on 
me. They were made because I was successful, and would 
not be blackmailed by this worthless character. His name 
would defile this sheet and I will withhold it at present. 

NATHANIEL McKAl. 



E. Boston, jSept. 5, 1871. 
To Nathaniel McKay, Esq., 

OE TO WHOM IT MAY CONCKEN : 

The undersigned, residents of Boston, who know Mr. 
Nathaniel McKay intimately, take pleasure in testifying that 
he has resided among us from boyhood"; that he is and always 
has been a thoroughly honorable business man ; that by his 
industry and energy he had built up a great and prosperous 
business here ; that at the close of the late war, had he chosen, 
he could have retired from business with an ample fortune, 
honorably earned ; but he was not the man to sit down idly 
and enjoy it, but he changed his business to that of locomotive 
building, which unfortunately for him proved to be disastrous, 
and he was obliged to fail, but his creditors did not, nor do 
they now, consider him in the least to blame for what he ceuld 



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not control. He was of very great benefit to this community, 
in that be gave employment to hundreds of meu, to whom he 
always paid liberal wages. He was ever foremost in promoting 
matters of public interest in our city, and in matters of charity 
no one gave more freely and liberally than did Mr. McKay. 
An instance of the good feeling and respect this community 
entertained for him, which will go to show in Avhat estimation 
he is held, was exhibited when his dwelling-house was ojffered 
for sale at public auction, by order of his assignees ; a large 
company were present, a very large proportion of whom were 
his creditors ; the auctioneer called for a bid, and Mr. McKay's 
daughter made a mere nominal bid, and no person present would 
advance upon it and it was knocked down to her, when such 
a cheer went up as must have assured Mr. McKay that his 
creditors, and the people who he had lived among so long and 
whom he had benefited so much, had nothing but the best of 
feeling and respect for him. 

GEO. H. PLUMMER. JOS. H. BARNES 

HENRY BAILEY. WM. J. ELLIS. 

BENJ. F. PALMER. B. F. CAMPBELL. 

COLEMAN COOK. EDWARD PEARL. 

EDWIN R. WEBSTER. RUFUS CUSHMAN. 

HENRY a MORSE. GEORGE E. YOUNG. 

C. D. TISDALE. J. B. HUCKINS. 

JACOB R. HOLMES. JOHN NOBLE. 

WILLIAM F. BROOKS. JOSHUA WESTON. 

DEXTER A. TOMPKINS. ROBERT E. JACKSON. 

[I could have had the signature of every person in Boston on this paper 
if I had so requested.] 



I 



[From Boston Post of October 29, 1869.] 

MoKAY & ALDUS. 

McKay & Aldus's immensG Iron Works, so long established 
at East Boston, have now passed into the hands of the pro- 
prietors of the Atlantic Works. The senior partner of the 
firm that has contributed so largely to the prosperity both of 
Boston and East Boston, Mr. Nath'l McKay, takes from the 
first of January next the management and conduct of the 
great Iron Works in Jersey City, and that locality will hence- 
forth reap the benefits of his untiring energy and the com- 
plete and practical knowledge that has made him so eminent 
in his vocation. To show the prodigious industry of McKay 
& Aldus, it is Bufiicient to mention that besides other constant 
and regular work they have built one hundred locomotives, 
fourteen large steamships, mostly on New York account, moni- 
tors for Government use during the war, hundreds and hun- 
dreds of boilers, machinery in part and entire, and executed a 
vast quantity of contracts for labor in their specialty — all of 
which drew an aggregate of millions of dollars yearly from 
every part of the country to be disbursed here in wages, pay- 
ments of rents, purchases, investments, taxes, and in the mani- 
fold ways in which money filtered through one thousand and 
more families, circulates to the benefit of the community. Mr. 
McKay's vigilance and energy, as well as his executive capacity, 
have been so strikingly demonstrated that anything more than 
a simple reminder is now needless. He has obtained by per- 
sonal exertions contracts from individuals and corporations 
throughout the Union, and has justified the judgment in his 
favor by meritorious fulfilment. He has given an enviable 
character to the works by skill and excellence, in execution, 
and has made East Boston famous on land and water by a 



thoroughness and fidelity that rendered his manufacture a 
valued one on nearly every railroad in the United States. In 
the employment of large bodies of men he has benefited hun- 
dreds of families, advanced the prosperity and marvelous thrift 
of East Boston, and in his successful season dispensed a judi- 
cious charity that cannot be too highly praised, and it is also 
kept in grateful remembrance. In his departure we are de- 
prived of an example of enterprise and of productive and well- 
organized work that is not so commonly presented as to recon- 
cile us to his loss. To the workingmen his presence was most 
directly beneficial, until overwhelmed by reverses which no 
ability could avert; the encouragement to skilled labor the 
firm was able to offer, and the emulative character infused into 
the whole establishments, were benefits valuable in other 
senses than a pecuniary one merely. Massachusetts cannot 
suffer the transfer of such vast workshops as McKay & Aldus 
kept in operation to other States. In their unceasing fires is 
one basis of the wealth and importance of the Commonwealth ; 
when they are quenched our industrial pride is gone, and the 
" bone and sinew " which so largely supports our claims to the 
foremost rank of progressive States, will seek other scenes of 
activity. The breaking up of a laboratory of such magnitude, 
and the removal to other cities of its promoters and managers, 
is a matter of the deepest solicitude. It leads to inquiries as 
to the causes, and awakens regrets that undue severity may, 
perhaps, have contributed to the dissolution of a firm upon 
whose honorable character there is no reproach whatever. 



[Extract from the remarks of Senator Hoar before the Court of Probate, 
Boston, Mass., October 2, 1895, in a case by which Nathaniel McKay was 
contesting his brother's will]. 

I can remember very well the time when the names of the 
great shipbuilders, Donald and Lauchlan McKay and their 



6 

brothers, were famous all round the world. They were build- 
ing or commanding the marvelous clipper ships for which the 
shipyards of New England were unrivalled. It was a contest 
which enlisted the feeling and the pride of the whole people 
of the country. There was no boy's play of yacht racing in 
those days. The strife was between nations £ind the prize 
was the commerce of the world. 

It was the time when California, Australia, and Oregon were 
first opening to trade. The merchant who could get the fastest 
ship had the market for the fruits of the Mediterranean, for 
the rugs of Smyrna, for the silks of India, and the teas of 
China, and supplied the new States, of which the Anglo-Saxon 
race was then laying the foundations. It was the time when 
California and Australia and Oregon were first opening to 
trade, and it was the ships of this McKay family, of Donald 
and Lauchlan and their kindred, that carried off the prize in 
every contest. When John Bull came floating into San 
Fx'ancisco or Sydney or Melbourne, he used to find Uncle 
Sam sitting carelessly, with his legs dangling over the wharf 
smoking his pipe, with his cargo sold and his pockets full of 
money. The flag of the United States was a flower that 
adorned every port and blossomed on every soil the world 
over. 

When the solid men of Boston got together in Faneuil Hall, 
and Webster or Everett wanted to bring down the house, all 
that was needed was to allude to Donald McKay, or to speak 
of the Defender, or the Daniel Webster, or the Sovereign of 
the Seas. If your honor would like to learn something of 
what, if Gov. Long and Mr. Morse were not here, I should 
say were two lost arts, oratory and shipbuilding, which were 
once the glory of Boston, I wish you would read Mr. Everett's 
speech at the house of Donald McKay when the Defender * 

* I modeled this ship with my own hands and built her ■While Donald 
was in Europe. 



which he launched and which I think Lauchlan McKay com- 
manded, was launched in 1855, at East Boston. Mr. Everett 
said: 

" Our host is building eighty-two ships such as we have 
seen to-day. No one else has done more to improve the com- 
mex'cial marine of this country. There is no port however 
distant where a ship built by Donald McKay will not stand 
Al. Yes, sir ; and if there were any letter coming before A, 
or any figure standing higher than 1, a vessel of Donald Mc- 
Kay's would be indicated by that letter and by that figure." 

Mr. Everett states further that one of the distinguished 
guests present had first heard the name of McKay at Windsor 
Castle, and alluded to the fitness of things that he should first 
have heard of the McKays, the sea-kings of the United States, 
at the residence of the British monarchs. 

They kept up with the age. They had their faults. Donald 
had his, and Lauchlan his, and Nat has his. But they built 
the monitors. They built the first locomotive that went over 
the plains. They inspired the muse of Longfellow, whose 
most famous single poem was written in their honor, and now 
is possessed in manuscript, I believe, by one of the family. 



QuiNCT, September 8, 1871. 
Nathaniel McKay, Esq. 

Deae Sir : It having come to my knowledge that it might 
possibly be of service to you in your new sphere of activity 
at the South to have a little testimony of the estimation in 
which you were held by those who formerly knew you when 
engaged in Boston in bu.siness pursuits, it affords me sincere 
pleasure to be able to declare that my knowledge of you per- 
suaded me of your great energy, enterprise and activity in 



8 

business, and excellence in private life, while not even the dis- 
tressing disasters of your eventual failure have cast any 
shadow upon your fair fame for integrity in the minds of your 
neighbors and fellow-citizens. 

Tours very respectfully, 

JOHN Q. ADAMS. 



New Tobk, August 11, 1884. 
Dear Me. Olney : May I respectfully commend to your 
favor Ml'. N. McKay, a shipbuilder and a gentleman. I am 
not advised of his business with you, but he is a man of prob- 
ity and honor. 

With respect, 

S. S. COX. 
Mr. P. B. Olney. 



Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway. 

New Yokk, Sept. 1, 1871. 

N. McKay, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In response to your request I cheerfully say that 
my business transactions with you, which have been many and 
for large amounts, have been of the most honorable and satis- 
factory character. 

In haste, yours truly, 

RUSSELL SAGE. 



Navy Department, 

Washington, Sept. 30, 1884. 
Nathaniel McKay, 

35 JBroadway, New York City. 
My Dear Sir : Your letter of the 27th instant has been re- 
ceived. The records of the Department show that you were 



at various times a contractor with, it, or its Bureaus, and that 
your contracts were satisfactorily filled. 
Very respectfully, 

W. E. CHANDLEE, 
"VST. H. ■ Secretary of the N'avy. 



commissionebs of 
Charles Eiver and Wareen Bridges, 

Boston, Sept. 7, 1871. 
Nathaniel McKay, Esq. 

Dear Sir : In reply to yours of the 5th inst. I would state 
that during the years 1864, 1865, and 1867 you were elected a 
member of the city council of Boston, and were an active and 
useful member of that body. You have also held, at different 
times, other offices of honor in the city, which you have dis- 
charged to the satisfaction of your constituents. 

I do not recollect when your iron and machine works were 
first started, but I do know that by your energy and persever- 
ance they became one of the largest if not the most extensive 
works of the kind in this section. For a number of years they 
were successful, and your business standing and public influ- 
ence was freely acknowledged, and when, under the reverses 
which occurred, the works were stopped, you received the 
sympathy not only of business men but of the citizens gener- 
ally, who regarded the closing of your establishment as a mis- 
fortune to the community. 

Having been long connected with the municipal affairs I 
have, of course, been acquainted with you, and, so far as my 
knowledge extends, your character and ability as a citizen has 
never been impugned, and I regard your position and your 
repeated elections to responsible offices by your immediate 



10 

fellow-citizens in East Boston as the best refutation you can 
have of anything which may be said to the contrary. 
Yours truly, 

JOSEPH M. WIGHTMAN, 

ex-Mayor, 



New York, Sept. 5, 1871. 
Nath. McKat, Esq. 

Deak Sie : In reply to your request I will say that my busi- 
ness transactions with you have been large, and that you have 
always performed your engagements in a prompt, fair, and 
honorable manner. 

Yours very truly, 

L. HOLBEOOK, 

Chicago & N. W. R.R. 
[I built 20 locomotives in all for Chicago & Northwestern E.E.] 



This is a copy of one of the contracts made for locomotives. 
Memorandum of and agreement made this 17th day of Janu- 
ary, 1867, between McKay & Aldus, of Boston, Mass., and L. 
Holbrook, of the city of New York. 

In consideration of one dollar to us in hand paid, the receipt 
of which is hereby acknowledged, we have contracted for and 
agree to build and deliver to L. Holbrook on the railroad track 
at East Boston, five switching engines at twelve thousand 
($12,000) dollars each, and six (6) locomotives at fifteen thousand 
five hundred ($15,500) dollars each, each of said switching 
engines and locomotives to be built upon a plan and specifica- 
tions famished and approved by George L. Dunlap and to the 
entire satisfaction and approval of L. Holbrook, and we hereby 
agree to receive in payment in full of the said switching engines 
and locomotives from said Holbrook, the notes of the Chicago 



11 

and Nortliwestern Railway Company at three, six, and nine 
months from the delivery of the same with interest from such 
delivery of each engine, the price of said switching engines and 
locomotives to be delivered to said Holbrook free of Govern- 
ment tax. 

(U.S. Internal Eevemie) McKAY & ALDUS. 

\ Certificate. 6 cents. J ___-„„^^.„ 

L. HOLBROOK. 

Witness : 

A. L. Pbitchard. 

We agree that all the above machines shall be delivered by 

the first of June, 1867. 

McKAY & ALDUS. 



141 Peael Street, 

New York, N. Y., 5ih Oct., 1900. 

Nathaniel McKay, Esq., 

1008 Thirteenth Street, iV^. W., 

Washington, JD. C. 

My Dear Sir: Referring to your favor of the 24th ult., I 
have this morning received letter from Mrs. Donald McKay 
giving brief sketch of her husband's career, which fully answers 
my correspondent's queries, and which I have acknowledged 
by this mail. You are both very kind. 

I may mention that there is a movement on foot among the 
Mackays to rcpeople "Bonnie Strathnaver," the cradle of the 
race and their home for centuries. It may prove a big job, 
but born within the shadow of the Mackay domain, with some 
of theii' blood in me, I expect great things of a people who, 
for ages, held their lands by right of the " Strong Hand " 
(Manu Porti— the Clan motto). Never did a race select a 
more appropriate motto. And never did a race make a prouder 
boast when they said, whilst other clans had their land charters 



12 

■written on sheepskin, theirs was written on their glowing 
broadswords. 

Sad that all the beautiful straths once tributary to " Bonnie 
Strathnayer," which at one time furnished 4,000 Mackays to 
the Thirty Years' War in Germany, should, to-day, be peopled 
by only a few shepherds and their families. 
With kind regards I remain, 

Tours very truly, 

BEN DAVIDSON. 



Office Centkal Pacifio R.R. of Califoknia, 

New Yokk, April 6, 1872. 
Mr. Thos. a. Scott, 

V. F. Fenn. Central E.R., 

Fhiladelphia, Fa. 
Deak Sib : This will be handed you by Mr. N. McKay, of 
Boston, Mass., who desires to meet you on some business 
matters, the nature of which he wiU explain himself. 

I have known Mr. McKay for a number of years, and in 
that time have had large business transactions with him, in 
all of which I have found him prompt and reliable. 

Any favors you may be able to show Mr. McKay will be 
appreciated by him and — 

Yours, respectively, 

G. P. HUNTINGTON. 



Office Centkal Pacific E.R. of Califoknia, 

New York, Sept. 4, 1871. 
N. McKay, Esq., 

Neto York City. 
Deak Sik : I take pleasure in stating, in response to your 
enquiry, that in all our business transactions, involving large 



13 

amounts of money, etc., I have always found you ready and 
willing to deal in an honorable and straiglitforward manner. 
Respectfully yours, 

C. P. HUNTINGTON. 

[I built 40 locomotives for Central Pacific R.R., tbe first one that ever 
crossed tlio llocky Mountains.] 



House of Repkesentatives, 
Washington, D. C, A^yril 29, 1879. 
Nathaniel McKay, Esq., 

Philadelphia., Pa. 
Dear Sir : In reply to your inquiry of this date, I take 
great pleasure in saying that during my administration of the 
Navy Department, extending over a period of nearly eight 
years, you were contractor with it for the performance of moHt 
important public work, and which required at your hand the 
exercise of the soundest judgment and ability, mechanical and 
otherwise, of the highest order. 

I v/ill further cay that all the work under your contracts 
was done in a manner entirely satisfactory to the Department, 
and within the time agreed upon, which was necessarily lim- 
ited owing to the public exigency ; and that if I at any time 
desired the completion of any important work, no matter what 
its magnitude, with promptness and dispatch, I know of no 
one to whom I would sooner apply, or with greater certainty 
of having my wants in that regard supplied ; and any nation 
or corporation needing the services of an energetic and capable 
man to conduce a great public work can commit no error by 
eecuring you. 

Very respectfully, 

GEO. M. ROBESON, 

Secretary of the Navy. 
From 1869 to 1877. 



14 

Office of James B. Eads, C. E., 

New York, JVov. 30, 1886. 
Cable address *' Eads, New York." 

Nathaniel McKay, Esq., 

15 Whitehall Street, City. 

Deab Sir: I am just in receipt of youi* esteemed favor of 
this date, to which I hasten to reply. 

The favorable opinion which you express as to the engineer- 
ing success of the Ship Railway is one which I very highly 
value. I am awai-e of the fact that when this subject was first 
broached you thought it was an impracticable one and so 
declared it in print. I very much regretted at the time 
that j-ou could not see your way clear to endorse it, because I 
well knew that a favorable certificate from you would have 
greatl}'^ increased public confidence in the enterprise. 

Permit me to express my most sincere thanks for your 
present letter. 

There are few men of prominence like yourself, who, having 
committed themselves against a project, are afterward willing 
to view it favorably. I heartily appreciate your frankness 
and generosity in this respect. 

I am, my deai' su-, very truly yours, 

JAS. B. EADS. 



Blackstone N. Bank. 

Boston, Feb. 1, 1870. 
Nathl. McKay, Esq. 

Dear Sir : We have yours of the 26th inst. informing us 
that you have commenced business in connection with " Mc- 
Kay Iron and Locomotive Works,'' at Jersey City. We cordially 
wish you success in your new enterprise, and sincerely regret 
that the industry and energy displayed by you in former years 
did not result more favorably. 



16 

Tour connection with this bank, as a depositor, commenced 
very early in your business career in this city, and was con- 
tinued through many years till its termination. 

Your intercourse with us was always characterized by frank- 
ness and fair dealing, and the results were enthely satisfac- 
tory. 

We discounted for you, in the course of your business, 
especially during the war, very large amounts, and it is, no 
doubt, mutually satisfactory to know that not one dollar was 
lost by the bank. 

We have supposed that frequent investments in new and 
costly machinery, which you no doubt considered necessary 
for the successful operation of your large business, was one of 
the causes of your ultimate embarrassment, and hope that 
this and auything else, which your experience has taught you 
contributed to that result, will hereafter be so carefully avoided 
that you will " regain all and more than you have lost." 
Yours truly, 

JOSHUA LORING, Cashier, 

for the -President and Directors. 



Letter from the War Governor op Massachusetts — the Late 
John A. Andrew. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

Executive Department, 

Boston, May 12, 1864. 
To Nath. McKay, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : I thank you for the kind remembrance you 

sent me in the form of an elegantly framed engraving of one 

of those triumphs of marine architectui'e which have made 

famous the name of McKay on both sides of the ocean. 

I am respectfully and faithfully yours, 

JOHN A. ANDREW. 



16 

New Yoke and Boston Kailkoad Company, 

New Toek, 'dth March, 1871. 
lu reply to your inquiries will say that we have known Mr. 
Nath'l McKay for several years, and have had large business 
relations with him. "We take great pleasure in saying th^t he 
has always kept his engagements with us promptly, and have 
always found his statements reliable. 
Very truly yours, 

A. McKINNEY. 
A. A. MAESH. 



National Bank of the Republic, 

PmLADELPHiA, March 11, 1879. 

Deak Sie : Nathaniel McKay, Esq., an esteemed friend and 
customer of ours, desires the honor of referring to you. 

He has just returned from Demerara, where he was called 
by the government of British Guiana, relative to the con- 
struction of a railroad, and his proposition to build it is to be 
submitted to the Home Government at London. 

Mr. McKay is a practical mechanic, engineer and Govern- 
ment contractor of large and varied experience. For several 
years he was extensively engaged with his brother Donald 
in shipbuilding, subsequently he was of McKay & Galla- 
gher, and later of McKay & Aldus, of Boston, extensive build- 
ers of locomotives for the Central Pacific, Chicago and North- 
western and other large railroads of the West. Dui-ing our 
late war they were employed largely by our Government, in 
buUding monitors and steam transports and in other work. 

Latterly, Mr. McKay has been employed by the Govern- 
ment, on his own account, on various works. 

I regard him as active, enterprising and honorable in his 
dealings, and beheving him fully competent to undertake 



17 

the contract proposed, I would feel greatly obliged and hon- 
ored by any aid you may be able to render him in the matter. 
With feelings of the highest regard, 
I am., very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

WM. H. RHAWN, President. 
Hon. John Welsh, 

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 

to Great Britain, London, England. 



CoMMOirWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

Council Chamber, 

Boston, October 3, 1871. 
My Deae Sir : I reached home last evening after an absence 
in the mountains of more than two months, for the benefit of 
Mrs. Harvey's health, she being a very great invahd. I found 
your letter, and hasten to say that I regret not having received 
it in season for your purposes ; had I done so I should have 
been most happy to say of you anything you might wish. 
Your friend, 

PETER HARVEY.* 



Legation or the United States, 

London, April 2, 1879. 
Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your letter of 17th ultimo, with 
its several enclosures. It will give me pleasure should Sir M. 
Hicks Beach, Secretary for the Colonies, apply to me to make 

* Mr. Harvey was the devoted friend of Daniel Webster. 



18 

known to liim the good esteem in wbieli vou are held bv mv 
friends whose testimonials vou have sent to me. 
"With great respect, verr tnilY touts. 

JXO. WELSH. 
it. X. McKay. 

312 0^^\'.^- ^.ro/Vi;j(7c I'huw 

Jiooms 17 and 19, -Phiiadslphia. 

Pe-atzuhia. Pa. 
To Hon. J. Welsh, 

^'i 'jop ^^traonfinary and 

JfiniM^r JPien^i>otentiart/. Great Britain. 
I take pleasure in introducing to you my friend. Xafl MoXay. 
who. though now a citizen of Philadelphia, "was formerly of 
the drm of MeE. »lt A., shipbuilders, of Boston, Mass. Mr. 
McKay is a mau of the most perfect integrity and of very re- 
markable energy. In view of the depressed condition of busi- 
ness iu this country he goes abroad in the hope of finding 
employment for his capital and skill : in other wordss of find- 
ing a market for American vessels or workmanship- If by any 
means you can promote his success in this patriotic undertak- 
ing. I trust you will not withhold your inter^t, and assure 
you that any counesies to McKay will be appreciated as &Tor to 
To:::-?, verv trulv. 

W. D. KF . T .T.Y. 
AroirsT 2-5. 1n>0. 



r. S. Xavt Tast. X:;w Yc^is. 

(■',:.■ .\- 15, ISSi. 
Mt Peas Srs : Iu response to your in.y.-iiT- .:' :..:? a;'.:e I am 
happy to s:iy iLa: in fill your dealing?. .■? ;. :;•-;:;.:::■ with 



19 

the yavy Department, which have come within my knowledge. 
Ton have always evinced great energy, intelligence and zeal in 
the performance of your obligations. 

Tour long and varied experience in the building of ships, 
machinery and structures of various sorts, and the numerous 
large contracts for important work at home and abroad, with 
which vou have been so successfuUv connected, must be re- 
garded as exceptional, and as well ntting vou for that vigorous 
execution of any work you may undertake — which has indeed 
long been your well-deserved reputation. 
Tours very truly, 

F. C. PRESDLR 
Civil Sngitie&r, JT. S. X. 

Nath.^wtkl McKay. Esq.. 

No. 35 Broaiwav. New Tcrk. 



Cos~nyz>Tij: Xatiokax BA^-K. 

BosTOx. Sij't. 5. 1S71. 
Xath. iI:KiT. Esq. 

DzAT. Srr. : I: g"lves me great pleasure to say that your deal- 
ings with this bimk were highly honorable to yourself. 

The directors have often expressed regret that jour energy 
and business talents were lost to Boston- 
Tours truly. 

OUTEE DITSOX. 



20 



Law Offices 

OF 

John Gofokth, 
Eemoved to Philadelphia, S.E. cor. 5th and Chestnut Sts. 

March 19, 1879. 
Hon. Philip Fegeylmesy, 

TJ. 8. Consul, Demerara. 

SiE : Mr. Nathaniel McKay, of this city, is in negotiation 
with the Colonial Government of British Guiana for a contract 
for the construction of a railroad in that colony. 

Mr. McKay is an honest, energetic, and in every way reliable 
gentleman, who has had an exceptionally large experience in 
governmental contracts with the United States before, since, 
and during the rebellion. 

He has been since a boy a practical mechanic and engineer, 
and for many years a large ship, engine, and locomotive 
builder. 

Entire reliance can be placed upon his faithful performance 
of any engagement he may enter into. 

I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

JOHN GOFORTH. 



Geo. Savory & Co., 
Commission Merchants, 158 Pearl Street, 
New York, September 9, 1871. 
N. McKay, Esq., 

New York. 
Dear Sir : We take pleasure in stating that the contracts 
made by our Mr. Savory with you for two passenger steamers 
for the River Platte trade were fulfilled to entire satisfaction, 
and that you furnished them even better than you agreed to 
do. We will be most happy to recommend you to any parties 



21 

contemplating building steamers, as we think you would carry 
out satisfactorily any arriingement you might make. 
We are yours, very truly, 

GEO. SAVORY & CO. 



Boston, September 7, 1871. 
Nathaniel McKay, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Tour note came to hand this morning. I am 
glad that you are as active as when with us in Boston. When 
you left East Boston I felt that our city, over whose govern- 
ment I was then presiding, lost one of its most intelligent 
business men — a loss which cannot easily be made good. On 
your removal from the Island Ward, a great interest left the 
place, and a degree of life and energy has departed which re- 
quires your return to make sure a restoration of the place to 
its old vigor. I trust, however, that wherever yoa remain you 
will never forget old Boston, where you once possessed such 
an influential position, and where your energy and business 
qualities cannot be forgotten. Truly yours, 

NATH'L B. SCHURTLEFF, 

ex-Mayor. 

This was one of the first excursions to Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
by the Chicago & Northwestern R.R. Company, and the follow- 
ing telegram was one of hundreds which I received, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, praising the excellence of my work : 

Tuesday, June 11, 1867. 

"An East Boston Locomotive in the West." 

Messrs. McKay & Aldus, of East Boston, received the fol- 
lowing communication from Council Bluffs, Iowa, signed by 
G. L. Dunlap : 

" Our excursion party from New York arrived here at six 



22 

o'clock on the evening of the 7th inst., in a train of fifteen cars 
drawn from Chicago to this place, four hundred and ninety- 
three miles, by the engine Lowell Holbrook, made at your 
works. AU and more than you guaranteed the Lowell 
Holbrook has performed, and reflects great credit upon your 
estabhshment." 



President Cleveland vetoed a bill for the relief of Donald 
and N. McKay, and the following petitions were gotten up 
and sent to the Honorable S. S. Cox to present to CoDgress. 
He wrote me that the New York petition had so many men of 
wealth on it that if presented it would injure me, and returned 
it. The Boston petition he filed. 

There never before was such a petition as this one signed for 
the aid of a Government creditor, and I am more than grati- 
fied to add it to my many letters. I knew nearly every man 
who signed. They are names that will go down in history. 

New Yoke, May 26, 1888. 
To the Honorable Members of the Senate and Hoxcse of Rep- 
resentatives of the United /States : 
We the undersigned, citizens of the United States most re- 
spectfully petition herewith your honorable bodies to pass the 
bill for the relief of Nathaniel McKay and the executors of 
Donald McKay, which grants them the privilege of having 
their claims against the United States Government adjudi- 
cated in the United States Court of Claims. 
NATHANIEL NILES. ELIJAH SMITH. 

P. W. SMITH. D. O. MILLS. 

J. H. FLAGLEK. AUSTIN, BALDWIN & CO. 

SMITH & EIPLEY. KUSSELL SAGE, 

LAWEENGE GILES & CO. JOHN E. HOEFMIEE k SON. 

SIDNEY DILLON. GEO. A. EVANS. . 



23 



W. B. DINSMOKE, Je. 

JOHN HOEY. 

C. P. HUNTINGTON. 

CHxVKLES E. COON. 

J. M. PATTEKSON. 

WILSON VANCE. ' 

F. P. BENEDICT. 

J. S. THUKSTON. 

SHICKLE,H AEKISON & HOWARD. 

EDWARD CRANE. 

J. E. SIMPSON & CO. 

W. COURTENAY. 

AVM. H. WICKHAM. 

L. V. THURSTON. 

GEO. METCALFE. 

WEIR, ROGERS & CO. 

A. RAYMOND & CO. 

EDWIN LORD. 

JOHN BURNEY. 

CHAS. N. VILAS. 

HANDLEN & ROBINS. 

RICHARD T. COLBURN. 

F. THOMPSON. 

E. H. LAMBERTIS, Jr. 
GEO. M. CLAPP. 
AAEON VANDERBILT. 
SAM'L M. WANAMAKER. 

F. W. HOUGHTON. 
A. SPENCER. 
JAS. E BRETT. 
HOWARD CONSTABLE. 
NEAFIE & LEVY. 

H. B. MOORE. 



HEGERMAN & CO. 

E. G. INGEESOLL. 

T. C. PLATT. 

DWIGHT A. LAWEENCE. 

W. F. SHAFFEE. 

PETEE MITCHELL. 

O. D. BALDWIN. 

WILLIAM H. ANDEEWS. 

COMEGYS & LEWIS. 

WM. P. CLYDE & CO. 

W. L. BEOWN. 

MAETIN B. BEOWN. 

JAS. S. NAGLEY. 

GEO. NOAKES, Jk. 

S. D. SCHUYLEE. 

C. COLNi;. 

J. P. PAULISON. 

J. Q. WEIGHT. 

AUSTIN TYLEE. 

EDWAED F. O'DWYEE. 

ARTEMUS H. HOLMES. 

WM. DOWD. 

A. C. BROWN. 

EUGENE M. JEROME. 

JAMES THOMSON. 

SAMUEL HOLMES. 

WM. H. VAN BRUNT. 

COPELAND & BACON. 

C. & R. POILLON. 

CHAS. L. COLLY. 

A. ATCAULL. 

FRANCIS GOULD BROWN. 



24 



Boston, May 25, 1888. 



PETITION. 

To the Sonorahle Members of the Senate arid House of Mep- 

resentatives of the United States : 

We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, most 
respectfully petition herewith your honorable bodies to pass 
the bill for the relief of Nathaniel McKay and the executors 
of Donald McKay, which grants them the privilege of having 
their claims against the United States Government adjudicated 
in the United States Court of Claims. 



J. Q. A. BKACKETT. 

HENEY M. WHITNEY. 

EBEN D. JOED AN. 

KOBT. G. BSADLET. 

GEO. S. MEERILL. 

GUSHING .t BLISS. 

KEELEE cfc GWIN. 

A. P. MAETIN. 

WM. E. PAEMENTEE. 

STOWE, BILLS & HAWLET. 

A. L. COOLIDGE. 

W. CLAFLIN, COBUEN & CO. 

COLBUEN. FULLEE & CO. 

POTTEB, WHITE & BATLEY. 



JOHN GUMillNGS. 

ASA POTTEE. 

J. N. BALCH. 

T. E. MOSELEY & CO. 

MULLIN & BEOWN. 

G. W. THOMPSON & CO. 

S. S. PIEECE & CO. 

W. H. KENNAED. 

MAETIN L. HALL & CO. 

CHAS. MEEEITT t CO. 

THOMAS WHITE & CO. 

GEOEGE D. COLBUEN. 

DAYIS, CUMMINGS k, CO. 

E. k, A. N. BATCHELDEE & CO. 



DEATH OF ME. DONALD McKAY. 

[Traveller, September 21, '81.] 

This eminent shipbuilder was struck down by paralysis 
about the 17th of July, and since then has suffered much with 
a vaiiety of other diseases, including consumption. He died 
at his residence in Hamilton, Mass., on the 20 th inst., aged 70 



25 

years and 18 days. His grandfather was a Scotch Highlander, 
who settled in Nova Scotia and raised a numerous family. 
The father of the deceased settled in Shelburne, N. S., and 
was engaged in farming. He, too, had a family of eighteen 
children, and was a man of great physical strength, and of 
commanding presence, being about 6 feet 4 inches high and 
well proportioned. The deceased came to New York at an 
early age and worked in Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he 
attracted the notice of Mr. Bell for his mechanical skill. Sub- 
sequently he removed to Newburyport and commenced busi- 
ness on his own account. After building several first-class 
ships for New York merchants, he attracted the notice of the 
late Enoch Train, who employed him to build the ship Joshua 
Bates, the pioneer of his line of Liverpool packets. At Mr. 
Train's suggestion he removed to East Boston, and here his 
career as a shipbuilder became famous the world over. He 
built for Mr. Train, among others, the Washington Irving, 
Daniel Webster, Ocean Monarch, Anglo-Saxon, Star of 
Empire and Staffordshire. 

"When gold was discovered in California he built for that 
trade the clippers Staghoundoi 1,550 tons, the Flying Cloud 
of 1,700 tons, the Flying Fish of 1,600 tons, the Sovereign 
of the Seas of 2,400 tons, the B(dd Eagle of 1,600 tons, the 
Empress of the Sea of 2,250 tons, the Westward Ho of 1,700 
tons, and many others, all remarkable for their beauty, strength, 
and speed. He also built for James Baines & Co., of Liver- 
pool, for the Australian trade, the Champion of the Seas, the 
James JBaines, the Lightning, the Donald McKay, and many 
others. The Flying Cloud made the passage from New York 
to San Francisco in 89 days, and the Lightning the passage 
from Melbourne to Liverpool in 63 days. But his masterpiece 
was the ship Great Mepublic of 4,000 tons register, with four 
decks and four masts. While laden alongside of the wharf at 



26 

New York, bound for Liverpool, she was partly burned, and 
those who purchased her wreck cut off the upper deck. Dur- 
ing the Crimean war she was employed as a transport by the 
French government, and was unequalled for speed, even by 
steamers, when she had a wholesail leading wind. Mr McKay 
built a monitor and several iron vessels for the Government. 
His last great merchant ship was the Glory of the Seas, which 
is still running, and is one of the finest vessels in the world. 
He also built for the Government the sloop-of-war Adams, 
and superintended the fitting out of several other vessels be- 
longing to the navy. In all, Mr. McKay built over 120 sail, 
including vessels of all classes, from the Great Republic of 
4,000 tons down to chpper oyster schooners of 100 tons and 
less. He was a natural mechanic, and had the rare art of im- 
parting beauty as well as other qualities to every vessel 
he designed, no matter whether she was full modelled or 
clipperly. 

In his season of prosperity he brought all his family around 
him and helped his brothers liberally. He was twice married, 
and leaves a widow and many children to cherish his memory. 
In religion he was a Methodist, and throughout life was ex- 
emplary in all his habits. He was born on the 2d of September, 
1810, and died at 2 P. M. on the 20th of September, 1880. 

As a scientific mechanic he was the equal of Eckford, the 
builder of the U. S. line of battleship Ohio, in genius, and his 
superior in constructive ability. Like many other great artists, 
he always seemed deep in thought, and most of his thoughts 
were of the world of waters and the best way to meet its ever 
varying dangers. 

His remains will be interred at Newburyport, where his first 
wife and several children are buried. 

The funeral services will take place on Wednesday at his 
residence in Hamilton, at 1.45 P. M. 



27 



THE FAMOUS McKAY FAMILY. 

[The Marine Journal, April 13, 1895.] 

It would not be just to the deceased, nor fair to the living, 
to allow our brief notice of the demise of Capt. Laughlin Mc- 
Kay, in last week's issue, to be all that we should say of the 
passing away of one so eminent in our profession, nor all that 
we should furnish our more distant readers of facts in connec- 
tion with this illustrious family. Capt. Laughlin McKay was 
born in Shelburae, Nova Scotia, in 1811, and it is safe to say 
that he was one of the brightest men who ever trod the deck 
of a ship. He was not only a mariner but an expert mechanic. 
In 1839 he pubHshed a book on naval architecture, which was 
a text-book for every shipyard in the United States, and was 
used in the drafting lofts for many hundreds of ships. His 
energy and skill, with that of his brother, Donald McKay, 
brought the two oceans (the Atlantic and Pacific) more closely 
together perhaps than did the work of any other two indi- 
viduals following like professions in the world. By the intro- 
duction of the fast clipper ships, in which they took a prominent 
part, California was reached in seventy-eight days, and by the 
energy of these old shipbuilders California was made great 
through the rapid passages of these ships ; and when that 
State was in its golden days, famous all over the land, then 
came England with Australia springing up which engaged the 
services of Donald McKay to build the clipper ships Light- 
ning, James Saynes, Stag Hound, Flying Cloud (which 
vessel had a record of 433|^ miles in 24 hours), Great Republic, 
Sovereign of the Seas, and others. 

Anyone who ever saw Donald, Laughlin, or Nathaniel McKay, 
would not need to be told that they were of Scotch descent, 
each being rugged and stalwart to an eminent degree when in 
their prime. They were born of parents who gave to the 



world eighteen children, and whose births and deaths make a 
record that it is interesting to follow. The first was Elizabeth 
Ann, born October 14, 1809, died February 18, 1869; Donald, 
born September 4, 1810, died September 20, 1880 ; Laughlin, 
born December 16, 1811, died April 3, 1895 ; Sarah, born 
February 26, 1813, died September 22, 1868 ; Margaret, born 
May 2, 1814, died August 29, 1867 ; Jeaunette, born May 4, 
1815, died May 20, 1817 ; Ann, born January 27, 1817, died 
February 10, 1824 ; Hugh Eobert, born March 21, 1818, died 
April 23, 1886 ; David, born October 14, 1819, still living ; 
John, born January 20, 1822, still living ; Simon, born Febru- 
ary 6, 1823, died November 25, 1882 ; Mary Ann, born Sep- 
tember 11, 1824, died April 14, 1888 ; Charlotte Sprot, born 
June 14, 1826, still living; Anna Lang, born December 13, 
1829, died November 30, 1894 ; Nathaniel, born March 2, 
1831, still living ; Matilda Nancy, born October 4, 1832, still 
living. To make the genealogy of this illustrious family still 
more complete and interesting to our readers, we have 
figured the longevity of these eighteen children which is up to 
date as follows : The first was sixty years of age at the time 
of death ; the second, seventy ; the third eighty-four ; fourth, 
fifty-five ; fifth, fifty-three ; sixth, two years ; seventh, seven 
years ; eighth, sixty-eight ; ninth, fifty- nine ; tenth, sixty- four ; 
eleventh, sixty-five. Two were not named when they died, 
and the other five are still living. One of them, Nathaniel 
McKay, our esteemed fellow citizen, is at present very much 
in evidence as a live man, he having recently been awarded 
$100,000 on a claim of thirty-two years' standing against the 
Government, and of which an account has been previously 
published in these columns. 

It will be observed that " Nat," as his friends and equals 
always called him, was the seventh son of this wonderful 
family, which, if old traditions go for anything, may have had 
to do with his eminent success in all he has undertaken, which 



29 

began with picking up chips in the shipyard and continued in 
pushing things, State and national, along until he rendered big 
service in President making, and is now content in taking life 
easy and horoscoping the political issues of the future. 

There is no reason to doubt that the members of this family 
who have not taken as prominent part in affairs State, national, 
and marine, as those more extendedly referred to, have made 
first-class citizens and have honored the parents who bore 
them. At its quarterly meeting this week the New York 
Marine Society passed appropriate resolutions in honor of its 
deceased member, Capt. Laughlin McKay. 



On April 4, 1888, I passed a bill in Congress for the relief 
of my brother, Donald McKay's heirs and myself, for build- 
ing ironclads, and President Cleveland vetoed it without ever 
giving me or my attorney a hearing. I waited three and a 
half hours at the White House one day to be heard and he 
refused to hear me or my attorney, although I had walked the 
halls of Congress twenty-five years to get this bill passed. Many 
times it would be passed in the Senate and not in the House, 
many times it would be passed in the House and not in the Sen- 
ate. I was a young man when I commenced ; if I had not been I 
would never have got my bill passed. I have walked the halls 
of Congress longer than any other living man, except poor, old 
McGarrighan, who died some years ago. TAveuty-five years 
is a lifetime to wait on Congress. There is no government in 
the world so unjust to its creditors as the United States, but 
it is on account of the changing of its members of Congress. 
When you get a member who is familiar with your matters 
and is in favor of your bill, the next two years he goes out 
and you have to educate another, and so on every two years, 
and as the House is such an unwieldy body, it is almost impos- 



30 

sible for one to get any recognition whatever. Many a poor 
claimant falls by the wayside, because he is but one individ- 
ual and he wears out while each Congressional district is 
electing a new man in place of the one who has passed out. 
The claimant has then to educate him, and in a few years he, 
too, passes out without the claimant getting his just dues. 

I would not undertake to follow up a bill in Congress again 
if you gave me a half a million dollars. I worked night and 
day, many times remaining up all night in the House, watch- 
ing for a chance, until the muscles in my legs would form in 
lumps from walking on the marble floor, but I was full of life 
and energy, and that is the only reason I got my bill passed. 
I would advise all men who have claims against the United 
States never to go to Congress with them. When the bill has 
passed a committee many people think it is going to be passed 
by Congress, because it is highly recommended ; it is put on the 
calendar of the House, which, in my experience, is a mausoleum 
for claims. There is not one chance in a hundred that it will 
ever be reached, and so it goes on from session to session, and 
the Government to-day is spending millions of dollars every ses- 
sion of Congress reprinting bills which have been in Congress 
for the last fifty years. They are reprinted every session of 
Congress, referred to the committees, a report made, and put on 
the calendar. The House adjourns many times with the cal- 
endar one hundred and twenty-five pages long, fifteen to twenty 
cases being on a page, and at the next Congress all the work 
has to be done over again. 

I deeply deplore, with all seriousness, the action of the 
House of Representatives in their methods of paying an hon- 
est claim. Many members rise in their places and object to 
a bill they have never seen, which they have not studied, and 
know nothing about, because they want to get the newspapers 
at their home to print the fact that they have objected to a 
bill. I have seen more demagogues than any man living, and 



31 

they are now increasing the House, which will make it more 
arduous for people to get justice done them than ever. Many 
of the bills are referred to the Court of Claims ; that court is a 
just one when a case can be brought before them, but the petti- 
foggy attorneys in the court who prepare the cases delay 
about as much as Congress, and the claimant has to undergo 
all the indignities that he would receive at any common police 
court. They will shuffle around from month to month and 
from year to year, creating frivolous devices with which to 
defeat the claim before it is sent to the court. These things 
are beyond all human endurance. No man will ever live again 
who will have had -the experience I have had in Washington. 
I have many times been asked to loan money (if I had any) on 
claims against the United States. My reply is that I would 
not loan $10 on a million dollar claim, because before the 
claimant would receive his just dues he might be petrified. 
What the House of Representatives should do is to establish 
two or three courts so that these people who have claims could 
come before them and get their cases adjudicated. They 
would save millions of dollars in this way. They would save 
the salaries and the cost of ten courts if they would adopt this 
method, if they could only save the printing which is now be- 
ing done (men are working night and day on the same bills 
every session.) I do not say this because I want a court where 
I could get any benefit — God forbid that I should ever have 
anything to do with another claim in Congress, or that I 
should go to the Court of Claims where there are so many 
pettifoggy attorneys who create ideas of their own to delay 
and defeat an honest claim. 

When Cleveland vetoed my bill and would not hear me, I 
went to my hotel and made an entry in my log, which I kept 
from day to day, and from which I herewith quote : April 4, 
1888. " He sent veto at 2^ o'clock to-day on my bill, H. R. 



32 

2477. I will pass it over his head and defeat him in the fall 
if I die in the attempt. — N. M." 

I had been in Europe many times. I knew what would defeat 
Grover Cleveland on account of his free-trade fallacy, which 
would deprive our American people of their labor. When we 
had free trade the chimneys in America Avere smokeless, and 
when we had protection, owing to the McKinley bill, our fur- 
naces were in full blast and our working people employed. 

I sailed for Liverpool on the 21st of August, 1888. I visited 
the " black country " in England, and I got photographs of 
the women chainmakers and women blacksmith's, the factory 
people, coal miners, and poor people of Great Britain of all 
classes, with table of their wages, and compared it with the 
wages of our working people. I gave it to the National Com- 
mittee ; they printed millions of copies and distributed them 
among the working people, and they had great effect, and Mr. 
Cleveland was defeated, as our workingmen knew that with 
free trade their furnaces would be still closed and their fam- 
ilies and homes would be made destitute. Mr. Harrison was 
elected. 

It has been said by many that this work of mine was of great 
value, and that I did a great service in aiding the election of 
a Republican candidate, of which I was very proud. 



[Extract from a letter written by Mr. Gordon McKay to N. McKay on 
the election of Harrison. Although bearing the same name he is of no 
relation] : 

Newport, November 21, 1896. 
Mr. Nathaniel McKay, 

No. 1008 13«A 8t. N W., Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : * * * I suppose you are very happy over 
the election, but for my part I cannot see what we are going 
to do with it. McKinley won't have a Senate that he can 
manage, and I can see no great goodness coming out of it, 



except to get rid of what might have been worse. You did a 
very great piece of political work at the time that Harrison 
went in (I rather think you elected him), when the first McKin- 
ley bill was passed. I wish you would try your hand again, 
either in making a new Senate or showing the present Sena- 
tors what kind of a country we will have if they don't pass 
measures to give us a revenue, and make the duties payable 
in gold. I have not much faith in the present revival of busi- 
ness, for I think it will only fill the country with more goods 
than we want. Of course, if there is any possibility of increas- 
ing the duties, the importations will start with a rush in anti- 
cipation of it. Show these Senators some of your photographs 
you converted the workingmen with in Harrison's time, or 
anything that will scare them into good sense. 
Truly, 

GORDON McKAY. 



In 1892 I went abroad and got these same facts again. 
There was no change in the wages but it was new matter, but 
the working people did not believe us. In 1896 I went over 
again and got the same statistics, and sent them out over the 
country to millions of working people ; they then believed 
that there was something in the free trade when mOlions of 
our people were idle, and they then elected Mr. McKinley 
President of the United States. All this work was done at 
my own expense ; no man ever paid me a dollar. 

In 1888 I wrote the Right Honorable William E. Gladstone 
the following letter : 



34 
McKay to Gladstone. 

THE LETTER THAT CALLED OUT THE GRAND OLD MAn's ARTICLE. 

New York, October 9, 1888. 
To the Right Honorable William E. Gladstone : 

Sir : During my last visit to your country, I made a short 
tour through some of the manufacturing districts. I in- 
spected closely the condition of the working people, my object 
being to make a comparison of the condition of the British 
working classes, with that of the working people in my own 
country. The result of my observations have been embodied 
perfunctorily in the Tribune^ Mail and Express, and the 
pamphlet which accompanies this letter. 

My views on the present situation of the laboring classes 
in England are most respectfully presented to your notice as 
being those of an American workingman, and possibly my 
appeal to the wage-earners of the United States may interest 
you. I have attempted no discussion of the causes that un- 
derlie the present deplorable position of the British laboring 
man. The question of whether the free trade system, as it 
works in Great Britain, or the protective tariff system, as such 
system operates in the United States, is the better for the 
" bone and sinew " of either country, has a great range. A full 
and thorough discussion of such a subject is beyond the power 
of any one man, I fancy ; though like all other practical men 
who have been in close contact with working people for many 
years, I have my opinion. 

You are, no doubt, aware of the political contest now going 
on in this country, and that President Cleveland has advised 
a reduction of the tariff. He supports his views by plagiar- 
ism from the arguments of prominent British advocates of free 
trade. You have said, I think, that at some future day "Amer- 
ica would wrest from England her commercial supremacy," and 
whether she will achieve this by her present policy of protec- 



35 

tion or by a change to the free trade system of England, is an 
important question at this time to the people of the United 
States. 

The experiment of free trade has been made in Great Brit- 
ain to an extent not equaled in any other country. Has it 
been successful ? Is not the term "free trade," as ajDplied to 
the commercial system of Great Britain, a misnomer ? and does 
such a policy confer upon the British nation the " greatest 
good to the greatest number?" Has the Cobden system of 
political economy fulfilled in any one feature the predictions 
of its early advocates? Has not the present commercial 
supremacy of England been obtained, and is not such suprem- 
acy now upheld, at the expense directly of the " bone and 
sinew " or the industry of the British working people ? 

Questions like the foregoing, as well as other cognate ques- 
tions, just now, are forcibly suggested to the people of the 
United States. We are, in this country, a nation of " work- 
ing people," and I speak " by the card " when I say that thou- 
sands of workingmen on this side of the Atlantic would be 
glad to know your views regarding the relative value of free 
trade and protection to the English-speaking people. As a 
profound philosopher, eminent statesman and representative 
Englishman, your opinion on such a matter, however cursorily 
given, would have a weight superior to any other authority, I 
"think. 

Some thirty years ago we built ships for England, the fast- 
est that ever sailed the ocean. My late brother, Donald Mc- 
Kay, built for the Black Ball Line of Liverpool, the Light- 
ning, the James Baines, Champio7i of the Seas, Commo- 
dore Perry, Japan, Blanche Moore, and others. We could 
compete with your labor before the war. I was a young man 
with him in the building of these ships, and was obliged to 
work for six shillings per day, while now I would get fourteen 
shillings per day. While we were fighting our Southern 



36 

brethren, your shipbuilders were building ships, and the Ala- 
bama, and other vessels were destroying ours, so to-day we are 
practically without ocean commerce. I attributed it to the 
cheap labor in England. If our workmen would submit to 
receive the same wages as yours, it would reduce the price of 
material also, and we could once more gain our place on the 
ocean, but American mechanics will never consent to have their 
wages reduced so low as those of your workmen ; therefore, 
we must be content without commerce until we can get some 
rehef from our Government. We are confident of aid if we 
get a Republican form of Government, one that will act in 
sympathy with the best interests of the working people. The 
present Government is more than anxious to put the working 
people on the same footing as those in the free trade coun- 
tries of Europe. This we are determined shall never occur. 

In closing, I pray you to absolve me from anything like im- 
pertinence when I express the hope herewith that some time 
in the near future you may see fit to make public your views 
on the subject. I am, dear sir, 

Tours with great respect, 

NATHANIEL McKAY. 

15 Whitehall Street, New York. 



Mk. Gladstone's Reply. 

Deab Sik : On the 9th of October you addressed to me a 
detailed and courteous letter. I have now felt myself free to 
write a yet more full reply, and have sent the MS. to the 
editor of the North Avierican JReview, in which it will be 
published. I remain, dear sir, 

Your very faithful and obedient, 

W. E. GLADSTONE. 
London, April 9, 1889. 
Nathaniel McKay, Esq., 15 Whitehall St., New York. 



37 

[The MS. Mr. Gladetone speaks of was published in the North Amer- 
ican Heview, in January, in answer to my letter, and he was most con- 
clusively answered, in the same number, by Hon. James G. Blaine.— N. 
McK.] 

Herewith I quote some of Mr. Gladstone's remarks in re- 
gard to me, in the North Ainerican Mevieio, January, 1890, 
and my method of etti ng the statistics of the working people 
of Great Britain : 

"An American gentleman, Mr. N. McKay, of New York, took, 
according to the proverb, the bull by the horns. He visited 
Great Britain, raade what he considered to be an inspection 
of the employments, wages, and condition of the people, and 
reported the result to his countrymen, while they were warm 
with the animation of the national contest, under the doleful 
titles of "Free-Trade Toilers" and "Starvation Wages for 
Men and Women." He was good enough to forward to me a 
copy of his most interesting tract, and he did me the further 
honor to address to me a letter covering the pamphlet. He 
challenged an expression of my opinion on the results of free 
trade in England and on " the relative value of free trade and 
protection to the English-speaking people." 

"It would have been impertinent in me, and on other 
grounds impolitic, to accept the invitation of Mr. McKay 
while the Presidential contest was yet pending. But all the 
agencies in that great election have now done their work, and 
protection has obtained her victory. Be she the lovliest and 
most fruitful mother of the wealth of nations, or be she an 
imposter and a swindler, distinguished from other swindlers 
mainly by the vast scale of her operations, she no longer 
stands within the august shadow of the election, and she 
must take her chance in the arena of discussion as a common 
combatant, entitled to free speech and to fail* treatment, but 



38 

to nothing more. So that the citizens of two countries long 
friendly, and evidently destined to yet closer friendliness, may 
now calmly and safely pursue an argument whicli, from either 
of the opposing points of view, has the most direct bearing on 
the wealth, comfort, and weU-being of the people on both sides 
of the water." 

" Mr. McKay and protection now made vocal in him, terrify 
the American workman by threatening him with the wages of 
his British comrade, precisely as the English landlord coaxed 
our rural laborers, when we used to get our best wheats from 
Dantzig, by exhibiting the starvation wages of the Polish 
peasant. 

" But there is also a variation in the musical phrase. Our 
low wages, it is said, form the basis of our cheap production. 
So it is desired, as Mr. McKay apprises me, to ' get some re- 
lief from the American Government,' by which I understand 
that he calls for more protection. For example, I have learned 
that turfs are occasionally sent from Ireland to America to 
supply the Irish immigrant with a rude memorial of the coun- 
try he was forced to leave, but has not ceased to love ; and 
that these turfs are dear to his affectionate patriotism, and 
have been bought by him at prices relatively high. Bat they 
are charged (I am told) as unenumerated articles, at fifteen 
per cent, on the value. I hope there is no strong turbary 
interest in America, for I gather that to secure high wages to 
the diggers, you would readily, and quite consistently, raise 
this, say, to five and twenty." 

" Mr. McKay greatly relied upon a representation which he 
has given as to the rate of wages in England. It is only in- 
cidental to the main discussion, for the subject of this paper 
is not England, but America. Yet it evidently requires to be 
dealt with broadly, though briefly, asking leave to contest alike 
the inferences and the facts which he presents. ' My con- 



39 

tention on this head will be twofold. First, he has been 
misled as to the actual rate of wages in England. Secondly, the 
question is not whether that rate is lower than the rate in 
America, nor even whether the American workman (and this 
is a very different hiatter) is always better off than the work- 
man in England. It is, What are English wages now under 
free trade compared with what they formerly were under pro- 
tection ?" 

" It is otherwise, however, with reference to Wigan. Em- 
ployment at this important centre is subject to the economical 
currents of the time, and undoubtedly the facts it may exhibit 
must be held to bear upon the general question of the con- 
dition of the people; 

" But it so happens that I have the best means of obtaining 
information about Wigan, and I had better state at once that 
I am at issue with Mr. McKay's report upon the facts. The 
statements made by him have doubtless done their work ; but 
it is still a matter of interest to clear up the truth. The 
steeple, of which he declares that the parish has been denuded, 
never-, as I am assured, had any existence. The temperature 
in Rosebridge mine, which he states at ninety-three degrees, 
does not exceed seventy degrees. The wages of the men are 
not three shillings a day, but vary from a minimum of three 
shillings and threepence up to the sum of four shillings and 
sixpence. The minimum for women on the bank is not one 
shilling, but one shilling and sixpence, and the maximum not 
one shilling and ninepence, but two shillings. Yards, such as 
he estimates at forty-five inches wide are forbidden by by-laws 
of the local board issued iu 1883, and similar laws issued in 
1860 require that cottages shall have an open space, at the 
rear or side, of not less than one hundred and fifty square 
feet. Barrows are not in use for wheeling coal underground. 
In a word, so far as the only place I have been willing 



40 

to make the subject of an examination is concerned, the 
accuracy of the supposed statements of fact is contested all 
along the line by persons on the spot, whom I know to be of 
the highest trustworthiness and authority." 

"W. E. GLADSTONE." 



[^North American Review, MareJi, 1890."! 

FEEE TEADE OR PROTECTION. 

By the Hon. Justin S. Moerill, United States Sbnatok from Vermont. 
* * * * * * * 

" Mr. Gladstone appears to have had the subject of ' free 
trade or protection' on the anvil ever since he was challenged 
to its discussion by Mr. McKay pending the Presidential elec- 
tion of 1888. He admits the victory of protection in that elec- 
tion, but strives to convince Americans of their folly. His 
great ability as an instructor may be admitted, and his teach- 
ings in Great Britain, where he has had experience, are deserv- 
edly of the highest authority ; but in America, where we all 
regret that he has never set foot, they are as unworthy of 
practical application and as much out of place as British laws 
for the regulation of the government of India would be if ap- 
plied to the Dominion of Canada." 

Mr. Gladstone says in one of his paragraphs that I did not 
get the proper measures, that I did not measure correctly the 
backyard where the poor man lived. In 1894 I went abroad 
again, when I measured the backyard ; it had not changed, 
and it has not changed yet. Mr. Gladstone said that the house 
I described could not be built under the rules of Great Britain, 
and that the yard I measured and the houses of which I took 
pictures, were built some three or four hundred years ago. 
Some of the places which I described in my pamphlets were 
of such a nature that the authorities in some of them removed 



4:1 

all of the tenants from the houses and courts, and when I re- 
turned in '94 I did not know the place. I am glad that I did 
the poor people of England some good. Their wages were 
advanced a penny a day after the publication of my pamphlets. 
We paid the stevedores forty cents an hour ; Great Britain 
paid them twelve cents an hour. 

In England, one person in every twelve needs relief to keep 
them from starvation ; in London, two persons out of nine 
die in the workhouse or other public institutions. In Man- 
chester, one out of every five. The London Christian says : 
" One out of every two laboring men over sixty years comes 
under the poor law." It costs over $50,000,000 a year to 
maintain the English paupers. 

From this you can see what free trade is for the working 
people of Great Britain. In England, twenty-eight persons 
in every thousand are paupers, in the United States, one and 
a half persons in every thousand. 

The mechanic who labors in England, it matters not what 
his trade may be, receives one-half the pay that the mechanic 
receives in the United States. The laborer, the one who digs 
in the street and has no trade, receives less wages than his 
fellow laborer in the United States, but his wages are more in 
proportion than that of the mechanics. I saw in Cradley 
Heath, about thirty miles from the home of Shakespeare, 
hundreds of women making chains at the blacksmith's forge, 
and when I made an exposure of it in America through the 
press. Parliament investigated the matter and found that my 
statements were more than correct. This same business has 
been carried on all through the " Black Country" in Stafford- 
shire and Lancastershire for hundreds of years. The women 
also work on top of coal pits wheeling coal just the same as 
the men, and for this work they receive from twenty-five to 
thirty-five cents per day. The men who work in the mines 



42 

receive $4.00 and $4.50 a week. One-half of their wages is 
used up in liquor ; they are the most depraved people I ever 
have seen. They live on drink chiefly, and in hovels, with 
stone floors in the kitchen as well as the bedroom. They get 
meat about once a week ; if they have a large family but one 
of the children can be clothed on Sunday to go away with the 
father or mother. I have a picture of their food in a basket. 
I have seen all they eat, and what they wear. The women 
dress the same as the men. Many years ago the women lived 
in the coal mines and their children were born there, under- 
ground. For the last fifteen years they do not live in the 
mines or work underground at all, but, as I said before, they 
work on the coal pits. A few years ago a movement was set 
on foot to stop the women from wheeling coal on the coal pit, 
and they dressed themselves up and went to London and 
appeared before Parliament and said they would starve to 
death if they were deprived of that labor. They are still 
wheeling coal, and are still at the blacksmith's forge in free 
trade England. These facts, as I said before, were printed 
by the million and sent broadcast throughout the country. 
England is increasing in poverty every day on account of its 
" free trade." 

Mr. Gladstone's answers to my questions were anything 
but satisfactory; he jumped the whole matter and quoted 
old tariff ideas of twenty-five and fifty years ago. What I 
was after was, to bring out before the election his opinion of 
the present day. He quoted antique and decayed ideas, 
written years ago by free traders, and when the Honorable 
James G. Blaine answered him in the North American Meview 
of the same month, there was nothing left of his ideas on free 
trade. 

I visited many factories in England, and talked with hun- 
dreds of working people, and every statement I published in 
my pamphlets was the result of experience and observation. 



43 

The following is taken from the Marine Journal, New York, 
May 25, 1889. I was convinced that the great greyhounds 
that were to be constructed in the future would require two 
propellers, and so expressed my opinion in the accompanying 
letter. Since this letter was written there have been three 
propellers put in many of the great steamships, as well as the 
war vessels. 

This letter aided Captain Lundborg, and he received large 
sums of money on his design from various shipbuilders : 

\From the Marine Journal, Maj 25, 1889.] 

In marine circles at the present time there is little talked of 
that creates enthusiasm outside of the coming international 
regatta and the splendid performance of the City of Paris. 
In connection with the latter we herewith present our readers 
with the copy of a letter written to Chas. L. Wright & Co., in 
1882, by Nat. and Cornelius McKay, the well known naval 
architects, which, for correct foresight in indorsing Captain 
Lundborg's plan, stands unparalleled: 

New Yoek, October 20, 1882. 
My Deak Sies: The design of an ocean steamship made by 
Capt. C. G. Lundborg, for the Atlantic Express Steamship 
Company, of New York city, presents much that is novel, and 
after a thorough examination and analysis of its principal fea- 
tures, its fine lines, combined with great stability, and the 
capacity of the hull for the introduction of a much greater 
amount of propelling power than is now afloat, we unhesitat- 
ingly assert herewith that Captain Lundborg's ship must prove 
faster, and at the same time steadier and more profitable than 
any other vessel of similar dimensions or capacity built on the 
prevailing type of model, and propelled by a single screw pro- 
peller wheel. 



44: 

Both in the abstract and detail his plans are in the highest 
degree practical, when viewed in the light of the well-known 
principles of steam naval architecture. 

It is heyond. dispute that the maximum effioiency of the 
single screw propelling wheel has been already reached in sea- 
going steamers. More propelling power and its consequent 
speed can be achieved only by the use of twin screws, and this 
feature in Captain Lundborg's plan makes its superiority obvi- 
ous to us. 

We remain, respectfully yours, 

NATHANIEL McKAT, 
COENELIUS W. McKAY, 

Naval Architects. 
Messrs. Chaeles L. "Weight «fe Co., 

New York. 



Mr. Nat. McKay is firm in his belief that were it not for 
dividing the propelling power of the City of Paris by twin 
screws, she would not have made the high rate of speed she 
has, and that Captain Lundborg's idea was carried out in the 
construction of the machinery of the City of New York and 
City of Paris. 



■■}^t 



